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F E D E R A L R 3 S I E 7 E BOARD R&S M l - 6l January 8, 1930 For release in morning papers Friday, January 10. RETAIL TRADE IN DECEMBER, 1929 Preliminary report Department store sales for December were 2 per cent smaller than in the corresponding month a year ago, according to preliminary reports made to the Federal reserve system by 4y8 stores located in leading cities of all Federal reserve districts. Decreased sales were reported " y 365 stores and increased b sales by 113 stores. Decreases were reported for nine Federal reserve districts, increases of 2 per cent for the New York and Richmond districts, and little change for the San Francisco district. The reported decrease in sales in the other districts varied from about one per cent in the Cleveland district to more than 6 per In some districts, cent in the St. Louis, Chicago, and Minneapolis districts. particularly in the Middle West, heavy snowstorms were a factor in reducing the volume of Christmas trade. Percentage changes in total sales between December, 1928 and December, 1929 are given by districts in the following table: Federal reserve district United States Boston New York Philadelphia Cleveland Richmond Atlanta Chicago St. Louis Minneapolis Kansas City Dallas San Francisco Note: Percentage of increase or decrease in sales, December, 1929, compared with December. 1Q28. — 1.8 - 1.6 + 1.8 t 2.8 - 1.3 + 2.0 T 5.7 - 7.0 - 6.1 - 8.2 - 3.0 - 4.6 + 0.2 'Number of stores reporting— Increase Decrease 113 365 15 73 27 12 6 8 1 10 3 2 7 3 22 y 37 20 46 l4 16 17 45 The month had the same number of business days (25) this year and last year.
